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92% of COVID-19 patients in some regions have comorbidities: National Task Force
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National COVID-19 task force chief Doni Monardo, also the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head, attends a meeting with House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing social affairs at the legislative complex in Jakarta on July 13, 2020. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
N
ational COVID-19 task force chief Doni Monardo said that 92 percent of COVID-19 patients in certain regions of the country had comorbidities, putting them at high risk from the disease.
“Based on data in the past six months, up to 92 percent of patients in some regions have comorbid factors, with diabetes the most common comorbidity,” he said during a public discussion on Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.
He added that the province with the highest number of COVID-19 patients with diabetes was East Java.
The second-most-common comorbidity for COVID-19 patients is hypertension, followed by heart disease, lung and respiratory disorders, kidney disorders, asthma and cancer.
“COVID-19 is very lethal to the high-risk group [the elderly and patients with comorbid factors],” he said.
Therefore, Doni said, the government’s first priority was the protection of these vulnerable groups, while also looking to increase testing capacity and optimize contact tracing.
”We have tested more than 30,000 specimens a day. However, this is still below the World Health Organization’s standard of 38,000 people a day,” he said. (aly)
